On Friday, January 22, Senator Thomas K. Duane held a public hearing of the Senate Health Committee on the topic of Food Policy in New York State. Senator Duane was joined by at the hearing, held in New York City, by Health Committee ranking member Kemp Hannon and Senator Martin Golden.

The hearing brought together representatives from health care industry and public health experts, and the food and beverage industries as well as consumers and hunger advocates to receive input and listen to feedback on three policy approaches to combating obesity in New York State:

(1) Calorie Labeling(S6438) would require chain restaurants to post the caloric value of all items on their menus;

(2) A Trans Fat Ban(S6437) would prohibit restaurants from utilizing any artificial trans fats in the preparation or cooking of any food item and from serving any food containing artificial trans fats;

(3) A Sweetened Beverage Excise(S6644) would impose an excise on sweetened beverage manufacturers.

The goal of these three bills is to raise awareness about the importance of diet and the link to obesity, to reduce the intake of calories, trans fats, and sweetened beverages, and to improve the health of New Yorkers.

To view video of this hearing, please tune in at 5:00 PM on Wednesday, February 3, to any 5 of the channels listed in the cable stations document enclosed below.